


Sentient Guitar

by Ralcemns



Category: Gilmore Girls, Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-11 19:43:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7067458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralcemns/pseuds/Ralcemns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The royal Silvers have been treating Reds unfairly, and only a few youths are brave enough to speak up about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off of a dream I just had, so I've gotta get it out here while the idea's still hot.
> 
> In the dream I was Lane at first, but then at some point I changed to someone else, so the main character telling from my point of view is going to be that girl Gracie that I've based off of a real person. She's in some of my other fanfics.
> 
> This might get a bit weird, but you know, what else would you expect from a dream?

Gracie was new to the town of Stars Hollow. Fairly. She was still getting used to locations of places and some people's names, but she was familiar enough with most of them. One person she'd grown to be friends with was Rory.  
"Hey," Rory greeted Gracie after school, "I'm getting this new job at a bakery. Want to come?"  
"Sure," Gracie agreed, having nowhere better to go, and followed Rory down the street. "I should get a job myself. Are they still hiring?"  
"They're always hiring; with all the expanding they do, there's always a new position," Rory explained. Gracie nodded.  
When they got to the bakery, it didn't wasn't much on the outside. It looked like a giant metal box.  
"Here, I'll see if I can get you a spot," Rory said, opening the door. The inside wasn't much either: it too was metal.  
The first door on the right read the words "OFFICE". Rory knocked on it, and a voice from the inside told her to come in. Gracie immediately recognized the paleness of his skin: he was Silver.  
"Whaddaya want?" he asked rudely.  
"Uh, I'm coming in for work, and my friend here would also like a job," Rory stated tentatively.  
"Fine. Show her the ropes," he said, slouching back down in his chair to apparently continue sleeping.  
Rory nodded even though his eyes were closed, then exited the office. Then she motioned for Gracie to follow her down the hall. At the end of it was a big room full of tables, ovens, and cabinets full of supplies. There was also two big refrigerators towards the back.  
"Okay, so you just follow these recipes," Rory fingered a stack of papers on a counter in the middle of the room, "to make what's been ordered."  
"How do we know what's been ordered?" I asked.  
"It gets announced every once in a while through that speaker," Rory explained, pointing at the square device hanging over the entrance.  
"What do we do in the meantime?" Gracie asked.  
"I don't know," Rory admitted, "this is my first day, and they didn't explain that to me."  
Gracie shrugged, figuring she could have some harmless fun in the meantime. She first washed her hands and put on a hair net and apron, as a large poster in the room plainly indicated, then proceeded to pick up tiny pieces of dough that got stuck on the counters, rolling them into one ball. Once the ball was big enough, she stationed herself at a counter to play around with it until she had to prepare an order. Whenever that would be.  
Suddenly the Silver boss burst into the room. "Why aren't you all working?!" he exclaimed.  
"We have nothing to make," spoke up another girl in the room. She had an authoritative presence, and there was a slight sassiness to her tone.  
"Then clean up, dangit! No one should be idle!" and he slammed the door.  
"How'd he know that some of us weren't working when he wasn't even in the room yet?" Gracie asked on the way to throwing her dough ball away.  
"He's an Eye," Rory explained, "he can see the immediate future. He saw that we weren't working before he entered the room."  
"Well he's super rude," Gracie commented.  
"Aren't all Silvers?" the girl who spoke up added, apparently listening in to what they were saying. Rory and Gracie looked to see her across the counter they were next to.  
"Are they?" Gracie asked stupidly.  
"Where are you even from that you don't know what all Silvers are cruel?" the girl sassed.  
"I'm from... another town..." Gracie replied. The truth was that she didn't really remember where she was from. She only remembered moving to Stars Hollow. "I've never really met a Silver."  
"Welcome to life," the girl said sarcastically, "I'm Paris, your tour guide."  
"Nice to meet you, Paris," Rory bit back, the bite having the warning to back off with the teasing.  
"You too, ..." Paris persisted, but dropped off when she didn't know their names.  
"I'm Rory, and this is Gracie," she introduced.  
"Pleasure," Paris sarcastically smiled, then walked away to probably clean something.


	2. Chapter 2

After the day of work, Rory took Gracie to a place Rory had introduced to her when she first moved to Stars Hollow: Luke's diner. It was one of the Red-owned businesses of the town, and Rory and her mom were tight with the workers.  
When they entered the restaurant, they were greeted by the waitress.  
"Lane," Gracie remembered.  
"Yep," Lane confirmed, continuing to serve the other customers. Rory sat down at the table her mom was waiting for them at, her usual cup of coffee in hand.  
"Mom, it's dinnertime," Rory pointed out, referring to the coffee.  
"It's never too late for coffee," she corrected.  
"What'll you have with it?" said a voice, and they all looked up to see Luke, the owner of the place.  
"Aw, Luke, you never really take orders yourself since you hired Lane!" Lorelai commented.  
"Well it's always busy at dinner, so I've gotta be on my toes. What is it you're ordering?" he asked again.  
"I'll have a burger and fries," Rory said, not even glancing at the menu.  
"Ooh, me too," Lorelai agreed.  
"Uh... I guess I will too," Gracie decided shyly. She was never really comfortable around new people, and she didn't want to make anyone wait by having to look in the menu for a long time.  
"Okay," Luke nodded, then went to tell the maker of the food, Cesar, their orders.  
"So how was work?" Lorelai asked Rory.  
"Gracie got a job there too," Rory explained, "and she was shown the true wrath of all Silvers."  
"Yeah, darn those Silvers!" Lorelai joked, raising a fist and squinting one eye.  
"This girl named Paris doesn't seem to be afraid of them," Rory added. "She spoke right up when the boss started yelling at us for not making orders that weren't even there."  
"You'll want someone like her on your side, then," Lorelai commented.  
"But she's so mean, though!" Rory said.  
Just then Luke brought out their food. "I thought you said it was busy," Lorelai poked. "Why did our food come out so quickly, then?"  
"Well, burgers aren't hard to make, and---" he stopped short when he saw a certain person enter the diner. The three ladies looked in the direction of the door to see who it was.  
"Jess," Luke said.  
"Uncle Luke," the boy named Jess said back. His eye was caught by the girls at the table, but he quickly looked back to Luke.  
"Uncle?" Lorelai questioned.  
"Uh, yeah, my sister Liz sent him over to stay with me. For a bit," Luke explained. "Go ahead upstairs," he ordered Jess.  
"You're taking care of a kid?" Lorelai teased. "I don't believe it."  
"Liz said she was having a hard time with him, so I agreed to keep him here for a while," Luke reiterated.  
"Oh, a bad kid then, that's even harder," Lorelai continued to jibe.  
"I can take care of a kid," Luke argued.  
"Okay..." Lorelai said, starting her meal. Rory did the same.  
Meanwhile, Gracie couldn't shake the small feeling that she already knew Jess.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, the town was preparing for a festival that would be held that night. Apparently, festivals were a common thing in Stars Hollow.  
It was a Saturday, so since Gracie and Rory weren't at school, they volunteered to help. Jess did as well.  
"I'm pretty sure you guys caught that I was Jess, but I didn't catch your names," he said when he approached the two. They were in the middle of setting up a small kids' ride; that night's festival was going all-out.  
"I'm Rory, and this is Gracie," Rory introduced the same way she had to Paris.  
Gracie worked past her shyness to ask, "Do I know you? I feel like I've met your before."  
Jess's eyes lit up slightly, but he didn't show any other signs of what he truly thought of that. "I think I saw you around my hometown," he said.  
"Where're you from?" Gracie asked, hoping that maybe they were and he could help her remember.  
"New York," he answered. That did sound familiar to Gracie!  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm from New York!" Gracie cheered in agreement. Jess's eyes lit up again, but this time a small, suppressed smile came along with it. For some reason, he was excited that she remembered him and New York.  
"Do you have a job or anything? Or is that why you got sent here: you wouldn't move your butt?" Rory questioned, surprisingly mean.  
"I just play guitar for tips. Used to, anyway," Jess replied.  
"Used to?" Rory inquired.  
"My guitar... went missing," he explained, taking a moment to look back at Gracie. She was slightly confused about that, but ultimately took no mind.  
"Okay, well, good luck finding a guitar you lost in a city miles away. We've got to keep working on this thing," Rory said.  
"Cool. I'll help you work on it," he offered.  
"... I guess there's no harm in that," Rory decided. "Follow the directions here." She tapped the foldable papers that were on the ground next to her. He complied.  
Gracie was trying to remember where she'd seen Jess. It was familiar to her that he played guitar, and she somehow knew he was a good musician on it. She figured she maybe saw him playing for tips. Maybe she even gave him some money. Nonetheless, Jess seemed to be taking an interest in Rory.


	4. Chapter 4

Even though it was Saturday, Rory and Gracie still had to go to work. They stopped volunteering at some point to leave, hopefully ending their shifts at a time that would let them experience the festival.  
At work, that Pairs girl started talking to Rory and Gracie like she'd known them for a while. This made Gracie fairly uncomfortable.  
She kept making comments like "Why are pastries so hard to make?" and then backing the statement up with why they shouldn't be, and with evidence on how nobody really cares about pastries.  
After yet another one of those types of comments, Rory finally cracked, but not in the way you'd think. "Did you want to come to the festival in Stars Hollow, Paris?" she asked.  
"Really?" Paris said, lighting up.  
"Yeah, come to the festival with us," Rory confirmed, nodding.  
"I will. So I guess we're friends?" Paris asked.  
"Sure," Rory affirmed, giving another hearty nod. It was slightly sarcastic.  
When Paris left to put the pastry she was making into the oven, Gracie asked, "Why did you invite Paris?"  
"She doesn't have many friends, I guess. I could tell by the way she desparately tried to invoke conversation with us," Rory explained.  
"Oh, okay," Gracie understood.  
Later, Paris was a little too giddy to go with Rory and Gracie to Stars Hollow for the festival.  
"This is great! Do you know what kind of stuff will be there?" she asked them on the way.  
"Yeah, we helped set it up," Rory responded. Paris continued asking questions.  
It was dark out by the time they got there, but the lights on everything made it a sight to see.  
"Who's he?" Paris suddenly said, nodding towards a boy approaching them.  
"That's Jess," Rory replied, recognizing him even in the low light. "He's new."  
"He looks edgy," Paris commented.  
"He was sent here because his mom was having problems with him, so yeah, he's probably edgy," Rory said.  
"Who's this?" Jess asked once he was close enough. He was talking about Paris.  
"Paris, a friend from work," Rory said stiffly. She always seemed to be shutting Jess out.  
"Hi," Paris said. "We're friends. From work."  
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm just enjoying the festival," Jess noted. "See you around."  
When he left, Paris said, "He's totally into you, Rory."  
"What?!" Rory exclaimed quietly.  
"Yeah, that's why he walked over here. He's edgy, so he wouldn't put forth time for anybody unless he was into them," Paris explained. "And Gracie, he's into you, but... in a different way. I don't know, it's like he's subtly trying to gain back a lost friend."  
"Okay," Gracie said, not sure what else to say. She thought maybe Paris was reading him wrong.  
"Paris, stop, you're wrong," Rory said.  
"Hey, I gave you the claim with firm evidence whether you believe it or not," Paris argued.  
"How would you know so much about people?" Rory challenged.  
"Hey, I'll admit it, I don't have many friends. It forces me to observe people instead of hanging out with them. Besides, you read that I wanted a friendship with you, and I can tell you're the likeable type who doesn't have to observe," Paris said. Rory couldn't debate that.  
Gracie continued to ponder over how it might be possible that she could be a lost friend to Jess. She didn't ever remember being friends with him, but then again, she didn't remember much about her life in New York. She figured that he would've said something, though, about them being friends if it was true. The only answer she could think of was that Paris was just wrong about that, except she seemed to be right about Jess's interest in Rory. Gracie would have to think about it more.


	5. Chapter 5

Gracie, Rory, and Paris stuck together during the rest of the festival, Jess occasionally showing up at the same activity, coincidental or not.  
"I'm surprised the Silver sentinels from this place aren't stopping anything," Paris commented as the night went on.  
"Sometimes they do, but they aren't very strict," Rory said. "Really I thought they'd stop this one, considering we have an entire Ferris wheel."  
It was that ride that they were heading towards, the highlight of the festival that made it more extravagant than all the others.  
When the three girls stepped into one of its carts, Jess hopped in as well. They went one or two rotations before all of the power suddenly went out. Luckily the four kids were at the bottom, but the only light now was from the moon.  
Just as suddenly, someone knocked on the side of their Ferris wheel cart. Jess looked over, then punched the person in the face, him being closest the side of the cart that was knocked on. Then he flipped up the safety bar over their heads, walking towards his punch victim.  
"What the heck?!" Rory exclaimed, "Jess, what?!"  
"Silver scumbag!" Jess yelled at the person.  
"Hey, not so loud!" he who was apparently Silver retailiated, "Do you even know which Silver I am?!"  
"Doesn't matter; they're all rats," Jess snapped.  
"I'm the older prince!" the Silver clarified. Paris let out a gasp.  
"Oh, the one who murdered his father? That makes you a whole lot better!" Jess snarled. He went to land his fist on the prince again, but the prince caught it mid-punch.  
"I didn't murder him!" he argued.  
"Sure looked like it on the news," Paris noted.  
"It was my brother!" the prince continued.  
"Oh, okay, just place the blame on someone else!" Jess snarked.  
"My brother AND my mother made it look like I killed my father. They're also trying to exterminate all of your kind," he prince explained.  
"No matter how hard you try, I'll never trust a Silver. Even if you're telling the truth," Jess said.  
"Why are they trying to exterminate all Reds?" Rory asked. Jess and the prince looked at her for a moment, then back at each other without answering her question.  
"It's because Silvers just hate Reds," Paris deduced. "It's common sense; I knew it'd happen eventually."  
"You don't even know what we're talking about..." Jess mumbled.  
"Then explain!" Rory demanded.  
"There's these--" the prince started, but Jess punched him again. When he got up, his face was shiny. Gracie realized it was his blood.  
"Why can't I tell them?!" the prince questioned.  
"So it's something secret, then?" Rory figured.  
Jess sighed in defeat. "... Not here," he decided, then walked off, indicating that the others should follow. The prince did as well.  
Jess led them to Luke's. It was closed, so the door was locked, but Jess had a key since he was staying there. He opened it up, letting the others in, giving the prince a death glare as he entered. Then he locked it back up, taking a seat on a table near the table where everyone else was sitting at.  
"There's these people called newbloods that the queen wants to kill. The end," Jess stated.  
"Just tell them all of it!" the prince complained.  
"Um, why are you even here?" Jess sassed.  
"Who's royalty around here?" the prince challenged.  
"The same one who's the minority in this town!" Jess fired back.  
"Just get on with it, Jess!" Rory begged.  
He sighed again. "The newbloods are Reds who have powers like Silvers, but stronger. The queen wants to kill them because she wants Reds to stay powerless, and also because she doesn't want to be overpowered," he explained. "If you haven't already figured it out, I'm a newblood."  
"Wait... you have Silver-like powers?" Paris reiterated. "STRONGER than Silver?" Jess nodded.  
"The guitar..." Gracie deduced quick enough for it to have been like she'd dug it out of her own memory. Maybe she had.  
Jess nodded slightly faster, encouraging Gracie. When she didn't go on, he continued, "Through any sort of music I'm like a Singer, except I can also do it through inanimate objects, giving them a mind that I control. I guess I'm also like a Whisper because I can read animate things' minds and search their memories."  
"So... any music would work?" Paris inquired.  
"Yeah, but it has to be professional. I chose the guitar because I'd already knew how to play from making money from tips," Jess added.  
"Can you sing?" Paris pressed. "Like, is your singing good enough to work?"  
"I did learn singing just so that if I was stuck in a situation without my guitar..." Jess answered.  
"Sing something alive right now!" Paris pleaded, eager to see magic when it wasn't coming from a blood type she detested.  
"I can't because a Silencer took away my power," Jess said.  
"I thought that Silencers could only silence when the person they were silencing was in the same room," Rory said.  
"It was a newblood," Jess corrected. "The queen keeps the ones she finds useful to her so she can whisper through them and use their powers."  
"She didn't use you?" Paris asked.  
"You can't whisper a Whisper," Jess snickered. "But then she took away my power AND my guitar."  
"Why take away your guitar if you can't even use it?" Rory wondered.  
"Don't ask me," he finished, but started getting fidgety. He also glanced over at Gracie a lot, pretending like he wasn't.  
"This is where I come in," the prince started.  
"No, this is where you go out," Jess corrected. "Leave!"  
"If I'd wanted to kill you, I'd have already burned the whole place down!" the prince argued.  
"You don't even have your stupid bracelet; you couldn't!" Jess noted.  
"No, but I can produce heat. I can produce enough to burn this town to the ground." The force of his statement shook the three girls a little.  
"You could just be out to gain my trust to find more newbloods to kill," Jess pointed out.  
"We don't have to find any more newbloods," the prince said, "We only have to march up to the castle and overthrow my brother and mother."  
"So you're just out to kill your whole family, then?" Jess jeered.  
"I didn't kill my father!" the prince shouted as he stood up forcefully, his chair falling over behind him. Everyone could feel the heat pulsating off of him.  
"Careful, sparky," Jess teased, "don't burn this town to the ground."  
The prince aggressively pointed his finger, but he stumbled for words to fire back. "Call me Cal," was all he ended up saying, resigning back into his chair. "Not sparky."  
"Alright,--" Jess started, about to call him sparky, but Rory intervened with a glare.  
"The current queen isn't even my real mother," Cal mumbled. "And my brother is only my brother through our father." Jess bit back another remark.  
"I'll help you, Cal, if I can," Rory offered.  
"Really?" Cal said, perking up.  
"Me too," Paris agreed. "I can't turn down a chance to overthrow the government."  
"I'll help too," Gracie added, jumping aboard the bandwagon.  
"And you, Mariano?" Cal asked Jess.  
Jess was silent for a moment. "I guess I will too, Sparky," he agreed, throwing in the name just to seem like he still didn't trust Cal. He probably didn't fully, but the fact that he'd agreed to help proved that he did enough to travel with the prince.


	6. Chapter 6

Paris called her Portuguese nanny to let her know what was happening, but hung up before she could detest.  
Rory had tentatively told her mom about what she was about to do. Lorelai didn't take it so well at first, going through denial that it was actually true and then worrying about her daughter's safety, but ultimately let Rory decide for herself.  
Jess left a note for Luke, but also had Rory tell Lorelai to make sure his uncle understood that the good-natured Rory was in on this too, and it wasn't made up, and he wasn't crazy. They left out the part about Jess being a newblood himself.  
They left early in the morning, Paris and Cal staying the night at the Gilmore girls' house in order to be close to the meeting spot. This spot was the pavilion in the center of town, where everyone walked around, but never seemed to stop to sit in. They couldn't have anyone recognizing Cal as himself or even as just a Silver.  
"We actually do have to go and see another newblood," Jess said once they'd all arrived.  
"Who is it?" Rory asked.  
"What's their power?" Paris added.  
"You'll see when we get there," Jess responded, still one for keeping secrets. He didn't even tell them where they were going, just to follow him.  
"Bus to New York," Rory noted as they boarded a bus.  
"Of course his friend lives where he used to," Paris commented. Jess had shot her a glance made of daggers just in case she'd said "newbloods", but she was smarter than that.  
Soon they arrived in New York, which was not so far from Stars Hollow, and Jess continued to lead them without saying anything. Finally they got to a wide alley, not very shadowed, but still out of sight from the street.  
"Okay, don't scream or anything, just watch and follow," Jess ordered, then proceeded to back up right into the wall, disappearing into it. Paris gasped, but followed his order of not screaming. Rory was the first to follow his order of following, tentatively stepping towards the brick and putting her hand through.  
"Don't take so long; you're probably drawing attention," Jess snapped from behind the facade, which made Rory push herself the rest of the way through.  
Paris stepped up to the wall, but ramming right into it as if it was solid. "It's not working for me!" she said.  
"The whole wall isn't like this! It's just the one spot!" Jess corrected. "Here," he said, sticking out his hand to show her. This time, she went through.  
Cal stood back as if to say "ladies first", so Gracie went through the wall next. She was struck by the familiarity of the place, but she couldn't imagine that she'd ever have discovered this place. She looked to Jess, who she saw was looking at her for a reaction before he looked away.  
"This is where I bought my guitar," he informed them.  
"And all your other edgy stuff," Paris commented, eyeing the leather jackets and fingerless gloves.  
"So this is just a store?" Rory inquired.  
"It started as one," Jess explained, "because the owner didn't have a store-owning license and couldn't get a job, but needed to escape Conscription. His power is to bend light, meaning he can make stuff look like its not what it is, so he disguised the front of this building to look broken-down, and the entrance in the wall to look like more wall. He only tells the people he really trusts not to squeal about his newbloodedness, and doesn't let anyone bring their friends unless he confirms trust with them as well, so I'm really trusting you guys, here." He took a moment to glare at Cal. "Not you, Silver, you die as soon as you tell anyone."  
"Jess, I just heard you saying--" someone started.  
"I know, Red, but I trust these guys. Wouldn't you trust anyone I trust?"  
A man appeared from behind a counter that was furthest from the door wearing the same sort of apparel that he sold.  
"That one I trust," he said, pointing at Gracie. He and Jess exchanging a small, knowing glance, no one else sharing in on the knowing.  
"The rest of them know about me, Red, so I wouldn't sweat it," Jess assured.  
"Your name is seriously Red?" Paris scoffed.  
"No," Red answered. "I'm called that because I'm proud of my blood. It's red, unlike that one you brought," and he death-eyed Cal. The prince got a little fidgety from the observance.  
"Okay I don't really trust him either," Jess started.  
"But you're killing him as soon as he squeals. I heard that part," Red finished. "Whaddaya need so badly that you brought one of them?"  
"This guy came to us saying that he needed to overthrow the queen and her son," Jess explained. "If you recall, he's the one that killed his father, but he claims he didn't do it."  
"Well I wouldn't trust anything one of them claims," Red stated. He didn't let the word "Silver" grace his tongue.  
"But why turn down an inside job to overthrow the government?" Jess pointed out.  
"Exactly," Red agreed, "so I'll get you where you're needin' to go." He waved for them to come behind the counter.  
They went through another wall, the other side being some sort of long tunnel.  
"This is the railroad for what we call the undertrain," Red announced. "I'll buzz for it to come, and it'll get you where you're goin'."  
Soon enough the giant machine came rumbling down the track, stopping next to the five and opening its door. The engineer leaned out, calling, "What cargo?"  
Red came up to him and said, "Two Reds, a Silver, a newblood, and a guitar." No one else really noticed that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If that wasn't a dead giveaway I don't know what was...


	7. Chapter 7

The five boarded the undertrain, each of them looking around the machine in awe. They were all instructed to be seated, so they did.  
"Last time I saw you, Jess, you were going to the same place," the engineer pointed out, trying to start conversation.  
"You went to the castle?" Paris questioned.  
"I tried to take on the queen myself," Jess explained. "Of course, that resulted in the loss of my powers and my guitar."  
"Hey, what are you gonna do about your guitar?" the engineer asked.  
"I'm gonna have the newblood that the queen made get rid of it being it back," Jess said.  
After a while, they arrived in the city that the castle was located in.  
"Here's some disguises," the engineer said, throwing them some wearable rags. Jess nodded their thanks, and the others did the same. Then they climbed up a ladder into an alley, then cautiously made their way through the street.  
"How are we getting in?" Rory asked as the castle came into view.  
"I know a secret way," Cal and Jess said simultaneously. They looked at each other in confusion.  
"What secret way do you know?" Cal questioned.  
"There's this entrance through what's kinda the back that leads directly into a covered place that sometimes has a motorcycle in it," Jess said, "and we're taking it because I don't trust your way."  
"How many times, exactly, have you been in the castle to know that?" Paris wondered.  
Her question went unanswered as Cal said, "Too bad that is my way because that's my motorcycle! I used to sneak out sometimes on it."  
"Congratulations," Jess commented sarcastically, and the two boys made their way towards the destination.  
"We need a plan," Jess said, stopping them at the entrance.  
"I'd like to kill Elara, but not my brother," Cal noted. "He's still my brother."  
"But you said HE killed your father. Doesn't that make him NOT who you thought he was?" Paris inquired.  
"Truthfully," Cal admitted, "it was only... kind of my brother." Jess scoffed. "It was actually mostly my mother, really. You know that whole Mareena front? The real girl is Mare, the first found newblood, and when it was found out that she wasn't really playing along with her Mareena identity, I was caught for helping her out. Then Elara... used her whispering power to make me kill my father."  
"Your brother had no part in that at all! Why'd you go blame him?" Jess exclaimed.  
"He was in Elara's plan to take over the kingdom, which they were at long before they had to worry about newbloods! It's was both their ideas!" Cal argued. Surprisingly, Jess didn't poke at how the king had actually died by Cal's hands.  
"So still not killing your brother?" Paris clarified.  
"I don't really want to be killing anyone, here," Rory spoke up.  
"We'll have to kill Elara in order to release her Whisper grip on the newbloods, or else she's undefeatable," Jess said.  
"Then just her," Rory said, "and not anyone else. And it can't be in a super-violent way."  
"We can't really control how it happens," Jess said, "we just have to make sure that we are controlling that fact that it does happen."  
"Then I'll just stay here and... keep watch or something," Rory offered.  
"Wait," Cal said, disappearing inside for a moment. "My motorcycle is still here. You can guard it in case we need a quick escape, which we probably will because every Silver here will be in hysterics over what we'll do." He quickly added, "Except for me," remembering his blood.  
"You're talking like you're Red," Jess joked.  
"Blood doesn't determine a person," Cal said, earning no comeback from Jess. It brought every prejudice anyone ever had about Silvers into the light.  
"Anyway, we get in there, and what do we do?" Jess continued.  
"I'm staying by the motorcycle," Rory repeated.  
"We know," Paris said.  
"I'll make a fire quickly right here," Cal strategized, putting his hand to the ground to conure heat in the grass and alight it, "and bring it to wherever we find Elara. We have to be as stealthy as possible until then, but when then comes, we'll do whatever we can to silence the Whisper."  
"You two can come with us or stay by the motorcycle with Rory, I guess," Jess said, talking to Paris and Gracie.  
"Like I said when I signed up," Pairs said, "I can't turn down a chance to overthrow the government. I'm coming with you guys."  
"I'll come too," Gracie added, trying to build confidence. She'd been nothing but nervous when constantly being around new people and being immersed in such thrilling events.  
"Okay," Jess said, "let's do it."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where the violence is... just thought you should know...

Rory wished them all luck as they snuck through the halls. Luckily only a few other people came along through them whenever there was a corner to hide behind.  
Cal directed them to different rooms that Elara might be in, the options narrowing as they checked more and more without her in them. The last place they checked was the ballroom, which was completely empty.  
"Maybe she's out right now," Paris suggested as they stood in the quiet room. The echo her voice sent out made the room seem larger.  
Suddenly they heard the simultaneous slamming of all the doors, which made them jump in their skin. Then all the lights went out, the fire Cal brought with him being the only illumination.  
Jess quickly relayed fighting advice. "Be aware of everything around you, try your hardest not to let Elara into your head, don't kill anyone who complies to her whisper but do hurt them if you have to, try and get as close as you can to her, assume any ability Elara has besides her usual is from someone she's whispering, and punch anyone who attacks you with all your might."  
Another fire burst into existence on the other side of the room. It made the face holding it viewable. "Handy advice, really," the face commented.  
"We're not here to kill you, Maven," Cal notified him.  
"Yes, you're here to kill our mother instead, just like you killed our father," Maven replied.  
"I DID NOT KILL OUR FATHER!" Cal shouted, running at his half-brother as his flame grew twice in size. "And that evil woman isn't even my mother!"  
"Are you implying she killed our father?" Maven inquired, knowing the full truth while staying stone still as Cal charged at him.  
"Yeah! JUST LIKE SHE KILLED MY MOTHER!" he screamed, and punched Maven in the face with a fistful of fire. The fire did nothing because Maven was immune due to his own control over flames.  
"Elara's gotta be here because she's controlling whoever shut the doors and and turned out the lights, so I suggest we find her while her son is distracted," Jess whispered into the two girls' ears, so they followed him. The two princes continued to yell as they fought.  
"She could be on the outside," Paris realized once they'd looked around most of the room. Then the door Jess and Gracie were leaning against suddenly jerked inward, causing them to fall into the room it led to. Paris hadn't been leaning on the door, so she was left outside as the doors slapped shut.  
The lights were on in this room, unlike in the ballroom. Elara needed light to fight, unlike her son who had flames to see.  
"I should've killed you last I saw you, guitar boy," Elara teased, "instead of just taking away your power and humanizing your guitar."  
"Humanizing?" Gracie wondered. This earned a guffaw from the queen.  
"You didn't even tell her?" she marveled.  
"It wasn't nessecary," Jess stated, starting to look as ashamed as he felt. He started glancing at Gracie like he had every other time he talked about his guitar. "Why'd you do it?"  
Elara shrugged. "I figured you cared a lot about your guitar, so you'd care a lot more when you could empathize with an actual human, so you would be distracted while I was killing her."  
Gracie didn't get to ask her second question before a sudden stinging lept through her chest. Shuddering, she looked down, seeing a long icicle sticking out of herself. She heard Jess say something, but she was too shocked to recognize it.  
She fell to the ground, seeing only the tile with her red blood in front of her. Now, she focused in more on what the two Whispers were saying.  
"Now, are you too grief-stricken to fight, or should I kill you as well?" Elara questioned.  
Gracie saw Jess's feet make his way over to her body, and he knelt. To everyone's surprise, he quickly snatched the icicle, unsheathing it from Gracie and stabbing it through Elara's neck. The queen's scream was hideous as it was drowned with gurgles and the spitting up if her own silver blood. Then she collapsed, leaving two bodies on the floor, the two bloods colliding.  
"Are any of you Healers?" Jess asked desparately, talking to the flock of newbloods Elara had stocked in the room as weapons.  
Gracie's eyes slowly closed despite her fighting, and she accepted her fate.


	9. Chapter 9

Suddenly Gracie drew a sharp breath in, welcoming air into her lungs. She opened her eyes, the light blinding her. She realized it was because her eyes had been closed for some time.  
Jess and Paris came into view; they were standing over her. They both smiled when they saw Gracie was awake, then a whole roomful of people cheered.  
"What just happened?" Gracie questioned.  
"There were no healers in the room, so Jess thought he'd try and whisper your body into healing itself," Paris explained. "Since he didn't have his guitar, he had to sing, and I must admit, he is a pretty good singer."  
"Well, I've gotta be, or else it won't work," Jess brushed off. He was embarrassed.  
"And about your guitar," Gracie mentioned, sitting up. She knew now, but still wanted to hear him admit it.  
He sighed. "That's the last secret, then. Yes, Gracie, you are my guitar. Were."  
"Wait, what?!" Paris exclaimed.  
"Elara humanized my guitar to have me distracted," Jess explained. "Ultimately it distracted her and led to her defeat."  
"Wow," Paris commented, "a sentient guitar."  
Then Paris proceeded to explain that Cal had accidentally killed his brother with too many punches too hard, and didn't want to escape with the rest of them because he was so depressed about it. They saw him huddled in the corner of the ballroom, head pressed into his knees he had folded up to his chest.  
Quickly they found their way back to Rory, who had all sorts of questions about what happened. They rode the motorcycle as they explained to her. She, too, was startled by the whole guitar thing.  
"Hey, I thought you said you were going to get that newblood to change your guitar... HER back," Rory said.  
"Apparently the newblood can only change things to humans, not vice versa," Jess said. "I asked."  
Paris was dropped off first. The other three were greeted by practically all of Stars Hollow, all in tears when they got back.


	10. Chapter 10

Luke was the first to spot the trio riding in on the motorcycle. Then the customers in the diner al saw as well, all of them running inside to greet them, especially Rory, since she was the only one they really knew. Luke, however had some words for his nephew.  
"You're not supposed to be running off like that," he said, trying to be instructive.  
"I'm a newblood," Jess said, "I think I can take care of myself.  
Luke was taken slightly aback. "Newblood? Isn't that what you said...?"  
"Reds with powers, yeah," Jess affirmed.  
"So... what..." Luke fumbled.  
"I'll tel you later," Jess brushed off.  
To the side, Lorelai was crying a little bit over Rory, hugging her and asking about what happened.  
When Jess noticed that Rory's relay of the story excluded him as a newblood, he said, "You can tell her."  
"Really?" Rory asked, "No more secrets?" Jess shook his head.  
"Then...?" Rory questioned, motioning towards Gracie.  
"That's her descision, not mine," Jess stated, looking to her. The rest of the town had been listening to the exchange, so now they too looked at her.  
Gracie shook her head, not desiring the attention. The crowd took their turns welcoming Roryr back and hugging her, even though they hadn't even really been gone that long.  
"Hey, you know we're fugitives now," Rory pointed out to Gracie and Jess.  
"Only if Cal squeals on us," Jess noted.  
"You trust him not to?" Rory asked.  
"Blood doesn't determine a person," Jess quoted. It was his way of saying he did.  
"Oh!" Rory realized, then getting quieter, "Silver sentinels! They could overhear and arrest us!"  
"Have you seen a single sentinel since we got here?" Jess questioned.  
"No... it's like they've been gone since the festival..." Rory noticed. "... So it was probably Cal who got rid of them," she deduced. Jess nodded in agreement.  
"We have to celebrate with a movie night tonight!" Lorelai interjected. Rory nodded, following her mom home. Jess followed Luke back to the diner, and everyone else continued their activities. Gracie was left standing in the street.


	11. Chapter 11

Gracie wandered around Stars Hollow until she arrived back by the pavilion. It was late then.  
She saw Lane inside Luke's, going to flip the "open" sign to "closed," but she jogged up to the door and motioned that she wanted to be let in. Lane let her in, but still flipped the sign for anyone else would might walk up.  
"What did you want?" Lane asked. Lane wasn't anyone Gracie knew so well, but she hadn't been able to walk off her secret. She had to say something.  
"I needed someone to talk to," Gracie admitted, sitting down.  
"Go right ahead," Lane said, finding it strange but still being polite. She proceeded to put chairs on top of the other tables while she cleaned up.  
"You know, I'm not who I thought I was," Gracie started. "I'm not what I thought I was."  
"What do you mean?" Lane inquired, finding the conversation even stranger.  
"I used to be a guitar, Lane. An actual, working guitar!" Gracie exclaimed.  
"Wait, what?" Lane said, confused. She stopped cleaning altogether and faced Gracie.  
"Have you heard about newbloods, at least?" Gracie asked. Lane nodded. "Okay, well, I don't know if you knew, but Jess is a newblood, and his thing is that making music can control animate and inanimate objects, so I was his guitar. I know, it's really weird, but there was another newblood who was under the queen's control who turned me human so that it would give Jess something extra to worry about. Oh, yeah, I'm also pretty sure I died."  
"Wow," Lane commented, taking it all in. "Um, you said you died?"  
"Yeah, I was stabbed with an icicle -- the same one Jess used to stab the queen -- and there was all this blood, then I blacked out... and when I woke up, it was as if I'd been asleep for a really long time. I don't know for how long, but I'm pretty sure it was long enough for me to have died," Gracie explained.  
"How'd you come back to life?" Lane asked.  
"Jess's power can control any object, so he just sang my skin to heal itself because he'd already killed the week so he had his power back," Gracie informed.  
"Wow," Lane said again. "You were actuall a guitar."  
"I don't even know what to do with myself now," Gracie said.  
"Why don't you just keep doing what you were doing?" Lane suggested, "you're the same as you've been since you became human."  
Gracie shrugged. She felt like life was different now that she knew what she used to be.  
"But it's like... I'm not doing what I was meant to do. I was meant to play music," Gracie said.  
"Then why don't you do that?" Lane said. "You know there's that music shop around the corner."  
Gracie shrugged again. "It's more like... I was meant to BE played for music. I'm mentally stuck as a guitar."  
"Well, I'm a musician, but I guess I wouldn't know," Lane concluded.  
"I'm going home," Gracie decided. "Thank you," she made sure to say.  
"No problem," Lane said, opening the door for Gracie.  
Instead of going home, she walked around the corner. In front of her was that music shop.  
"Tomorrow," she whispered to herself.


End file.
